Snapshot: Academic Services Spending To Reach $1.2 Billion
Composed of professional services such as those supporting online
education and faculty recruitment that help institutions support
teaching and learning objectives, the academic services market is
serving key postsecondary priorities. With institutional leadership
focused heavily on instructional objectives, the academic services
market is growing rapidly as technology's advances also help fuel this
market.
Source: Eduventures
Online higher education's expansion is resulting in major demand for
new faculty skill sets and ready-to-teach online courses, with
recruitment firms and online program suppliers actively addressing
these opportunities. Eduventures forecasts the academic services market
will experience high growth through 2010 and reach nearly $1.2 billion
in revenues by that time.
As institutions shift into new modes of course delivery, external
service providers are helping schools to address their teaching and
learning objectives through a variety of services supporting online
education, including course development and academic support services.
In addition, institutions are eager to partner with companies able to
assist in faculty recruitment to support growth of ground and online
instruction. Also of importance are online tutoring and student support
services, a developing component of this market that is now augmenting,
and in some cases supplanting, the traditional face-to-face tutorial
model staffed by college employees or fellow students.
About the Author
Noah Carp is a senior analyst with Eduventures, an education consultancy and research firm based in Boston.